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The crowd grew late into the night around the Emirates Stadium. The Sky Sports reporter and van were mobbed by Arsenal fans as the news filtered in. In the fag hours of deadline day in September 2013, Arsenal shocked the footballing world by announcing the signing of Mesut Ozil.
Signing a player of that stature and ability was met by disbelief by the Arsenal faithful as it signalled a watershed moment for the club. After years of underwhelming signings, Arsenal could finally challenge for top honours again.
It was believed to be the end of the Gervinho, Park Chu-Young and Andre Santos era as Arsenal primed themselves to compete with the petrodollars of Chelsea and Manchester City. Mesut Ozil was arguably the first world-class player in their prime that Arsenal managed to sign for the best part of a decade.
It was the first sign of real ambition from the club's American owners as Arsenal smashed their club transfer record fee to sign the German from Real Madrid for £42.5 million.
How has Mesut Ozil fared at Arsenal?
In the first few seasons since his arrival, Mesut Ozil did not disappoint. Despite the English media bias against him due to his perceived laidback nature, football purists would agree that Ozil has been elite for the majority of the time he has spent in North London.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup winner has graced the Premier League with his silky passing, subtle flicks and extraordinary vision. He racked up 19 assists in the league in 2015-16 as Arsenal finished second and a further 18 goals and assists the season after.
However, seven years since that fateful night in September, Mesut Ozil is now a pale shadow of his former self. He has been frozen out of the Arsenal squad by Mikel Arteta, apparently because of his poor attitude in training and failure to imbibe the new manager's playing philosophy.
Arsenal are now looking to jettison Mesut Ozil in this transfer window despite the German still having a year left on his contract. Unfortunately, his £350,000-a-week wage makes him almost impossible to sell as he is set for another year on the Arsenal sidelines where he could be spending more time on Twitch than on the football pitch.
The waning of Mesut Ozil’s powers mirrors Arsenal's decline as a footballing powerhouse in England.
In the pomp of Arsene Wenger’s tenure Arsenal modelled themselves on Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Due to a plethora of creative midfielders at their disposal,=the \980club was even often criticised for wanting to pass the ball into the net. From Cesc Fabregas to Tomas Rosicky and Santi Cazorla, Arsenal were known for their diminutive creative midfielders with technical quality.
However, in recent years, there has been a mass exodus of this type of players at the club; in the last three years, Arsenal have lost Cazorla, Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain.
Now Arsenal's last and perhaps greatest creator, Mesut Ozil, has been frozen out and is set to leave. The creative heart of the team has been steadily ripped out, and that is causing Arsenal grave problems on the pitch.
Arsenal's creativity roblem
In the recently concluded season, Arsenal struggled to create chances in games and had to often rely on the individual brilliance of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to bail them out. An instance of the same was witnessed in Arsenal's penultimate league game against Aston Villa where they failed to have a single shot on target against a team who was happy to sit back and let them have the ball.
In terms of numbers, Arsenal were one of the least creative teams in the league. They ranked 15th last season for 'shot creating actions' (16.18 per 90) and 16th for 'key passes' (285). Arsenal were 12th for 'big chances created' and were the worst of the Big 6 teams in terms of 'expected assists' and 'progressive passes'.
If that was not enough, the only Arsenal player among the top 50 players in the league last season for 'shot creating actions' is Mesut Ozil with 3.94 per 90. The next best Arsenal player was Nicholas Pepe, with 2.96 per 90, ranked in 51st place.
It is no surprise that Arsenal are now being linked with the likes of Willian and Philippe Coutinho to help mitigate their creativity drought. Arsenal have players like Pepe and Aubameyang who can run in behind defences, but unfortunately they do not have the creative lynchpin who can spot these runs by threading needle passes.
Is it the end of the road for Mesut Ozil at Arsenal?
So where does this leave Mesut Ozil? Is he just another victim of an evolving game where the number ten is now nothing more than a luxury.
Players like Coutinho and James Rodriguez have been forced out of clubs while the likes of Kevin De Bruyne and Thomas Muller have been made to evolve. The emergence of a counter-pressing system and the popularity of the 4-3-3 has rendered the number ten redundant in the modern game.
Maybe, Mesut Ozil was just too slow to pick up on the trends, and the game has left him behind. But maybe this Arsenal team has moved on from Ozil as well. Yes at times Ozil may seem like the better option in games. But Arteta is building a footballing philosophy at the club, and he cannot carry any passengers who aren’t fully on board with his vision.
So after all the assist records, dainty flicks and trademark bounce shots, Mesut Ozil’s Arsenal career looks likely to end on a rather bitter divorce. Arteta and Ozil are apparently unwilling to speak to each other and make amends.
Mesut Ozil is now all set to leave England as a villain, with tales of his wizardry leaning towards the mythical. His legacy might be tarnished, and he may be remembered as the 350K man who stole a living. But when he signed for Arsenal in 2013, he offered the hope of a new dawn.
Ozil, the misunderstood genius could leave North London, as Arsenal under a new manager and regime might be on the cusp of a new chapter.
